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Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

There is not one ‘perfect EDC light’. With many different choices of size, user interface, output and runtime, it is sometimes very difficult to choose.

Thanks to Fenix, this choice has become a little easier, as they have released the EDC Flashlight Pack containing two of their classic, and recently updated, best-selling, quality, EDC torches. These give you the choice of the very simple E01 which is compact with long runtime, and the LD01, with three output levels and fantastic performance from an AAA light.

PART 1 – Initial Impressions:

There are many copies of the LD01, but they do not come close to the fit and finish of the LD01, and nowhere near the performance. This latest version uses the Cree XP-G R4 LED with 72 Lumens output.

Two things immediately strike you about the LD01, the silkiness and ease of operation, and the beautiful smooth bright beam. Beam tint is very natural in appearance and easy on the eyes.

The head turns very smoothly, and it is easy to operate the LD01 one handed. Being slightly longer than some other AAA EDC lights actually makes it more comfortable to hold and use.

The E01 is smaller and lighter than the LD01 and is quite a different concept. It uses a Nichia GS 5mm LED without a glass lens, instead the LED is recessed in a cone-shaped unpolished reflector. The construction and design of the E01 gives the impression of a super tough light that will keep on running. The E01’s beam is slightly on the cool side, especially compared to the LD01. Used by itself this is not so noticeable.

What is in the box:

The typically well presented Fenix box

The plastic carrier tray out of the outer sleeve

The LD01 comes with two spare o-rings, split ring and a stainless steel clip, the E01 has a single spare o-ring and a split ring. Both sets of instructions are included.

The LD01s LED is well centred, and the reflector comes right up to the LED dome (unlike other lights where the reflector only comes up to the edge of the LED support).

The E01’s lens-less LED

Looking inside:

With the head removed you can see the positive and negative contacts of the LD01

The LD01’s threads

With the head removed you can see the positive and negative contacts of the E01

The E01’s threads

Fitting the LD01’s clip:

The stainless steel clip supplied for the LD01 fits very tightly, and however careful you are, fitting it will scratch the body, and taking it off again will make more marks.

My personal preference is to not use the clip, but it is strong and well finished and will keep the LD01 securely clipped if you do use it.

Modes and User Interface:

The user interfaces are very different which is why the EDC Flashlight Pack works so well, giving you the choice or either or both.

The LD01 is a three mode twisty light. Twist to turn on and it comes on in Medium (26Lm). Twist off and on again to get Low (3 Lm), and once more to get High (72Lm). If the light is left off for more than 2s or so it defaults back to medium.

There has been much discussion about which is best between L-M-H, or M-L-H for the order of the outputs. One argument is that you should always start with the lowest output as typically your eyes will be adapted to the dark, however personally I find I use medium output the most, so the fact that the LD01 comes on in medium is very convenient (for me). If you really do need low, then simply covering the front of the light while you select low prevents compromising your night vision, and this can be quickly selected as it is the second mode.

The E01 in contrast has only a single output level, so is the simplest light to use and to lend to others. Twist on and twist off.

The single output level, though low by current standards, is a good compromise in being bright enough to be useful and low enough not to blind you if your eyes are dark adapted. The beam is quite diffuse so provides good area lighting at close distances. The other benefit of the constant 10Lm output is long reliable runtime.

Batteries and output:

Both take AAA batteries and will work with alkalines and NiMH and there is no significant measurable difference in output between these types of battery. As both are specified as current controlled output then this is exactly as expected. I have been using NiMH as my preference is for rechargeable batteries.

The LD01’s high output is surprisingly bright for a single normal AAA battery and noticeably brighter than the popular iTP A3 as shown very clearly by the lab testing.

The three levels are well spaced, the 3Lm output providing a good low level, the 26Lm medium is excellent for general use and the 72 lumen output is bright enough to light a whole room.

I must mention it again, the beam of the LD01 is exceptional, bright with a very diffuse hotspot giving a really good spread of smooth light.

PART 2 – In The Lab

As in a previous review, I decided to try and quantify the actual beam profile. There are probably many flaws in my method, but it is simple and easy to carry out and seems to provide a good enough comparison.

The method used was to put the light on the edge of a table 1m from a wall, with a tape measure on the wall. The zero of the scale is placed in the centre of the hotspot and a lux meter is then positioned at points along the scale, with the measurements recorded. Beam shots are often taken with the light shining on a flat white wall, so this method is simply measuring the actual intensity across the beam on a flat surface, not the spherical light emission.

The results are then plotted on a graph.

For the best throw you want to see a sharp peak with less of the distracting spill. For the best flood light the trace should be pretty flat.

Here the LD01 is shown next to the E01 and for comparison the popular iTP A3. You can clearly see how the LD01 has a much wider hotspot and much more light in the spill when compared to the A3. The E01’s output is much lower and quite an even flood of light.

Taking this a little further, I calculated an approximate factor to apply to the lux measurements, as each measurement gets further from the centre of the beam, it corresponds to a larger area onto which the light is falling. It seems to me that this should also be taken into consideration, so I applied these area corrections and came up with this odd looking graph.

The key quantity here is the area under the graph line. This should correspond to the total light output. Here you can see the diffuser has put more light energy into the spill and widened the hotspot.

The LD01 has a much larger area under the line than the A3 representing a significantly greater output.

PART 3 – The beams

LD01:

The LD01’s beam is very well formed and is incredibly good for such a small reflector. Nicely smooth across the beam with a soft brighter centre rather than a hotspot (unlike the iTP A3 used for comparison here which has a very defined hotspot).

For comparison this is the iTP A3 on high with the same exposure. Strangely, in the photo the spill looks wider than the LD01, but as the hotspot is relatively much brighter than the spill the beam seem narrower to the eye, with the LD01 lighting a much larger area than the A3. The LD01 is really worth the extra cost over the A3.

E01:

Compared to the LD01, the E01 may appear totally eclipsed, but it has its place. Again shown here with the same exposure as the previous beam shots (ISO400, F/8, 1s) it is of course much less bright, but it is outputting 10Lm compared to the 72Lm of the LD01.

PART 4 – EDCing them

Looking at them and a few graphs doesn't tell you much about what they are like to use and how they perform in different situations.

An EDC torch is going to fulfil different roles than larger heavier duty torches. The most common requirement of an EDC torch is being small and easy to carry. Both of these AAA based lights are compact enough to fit alongside your keys, in a pocket or handbag and go unnoticed.

The LD01 and E01 are excellent EDC lights and what is even better, is having the choice of either, or you might end up carrying both.

Each of us will have different every-day tasks for a light, be it as a back-up for a larger light, lighting the path to and from a car, helping get a key into a lock, peering down a drain, looking inside computing hardware or the boot of your car, the list is endless.

The LD01:

The output of the LD01 is impressive and the beam really is one of the best I have seen for an EDC. As a famous advert campaign said ‘why have cotton when you can have silk?’ and the LD01 is silk. A real pleasure to use, and it encouraged me to find unnecessary reasons to use it.

The E01:

Compared to the LD01, the E01 can at first seem inferior, but in using both of them regularly, the E01 gives you a confidence that regardless how tough the going gets it will keep on lighting the way and just seems to run and run and run.

The beamshot may make the beam look too weak, but of course your eyes also adapt to the lower light level, so in real use the difference is not so marked.

Once the battery has run down to a certain point the output level drops, but it will keep on working for many more hours to come, meaning you won’t get left in the dark.

I’ll update post 2 of this thread once I have some more comments to add....

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

I got one of these for X-mas gifts. I gave the LD01 to my brother and the E01 to my sister. My brother LOVES his LD01 and is blown away by the brightness! (It is his first "real" flashlight.) My sister likes hers as well, and they both are carrying them or their key chain's now. The E01 I got was just as blue as yours it looks like, but I doubt she cares.

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

I won that same package in a drawing! It seems more like buy an LD01 and get an E01 for free.. like it they are clearing out the extra purple E01s. I got an SS LD01 on my keychain, LD01 around my neck, wife has an LD01 in purse, and the E01 is next to my bed, so I do not have to always "double twist" the LD01 to get the low mode when I get up during the night.

The AAA size is easy to hold in my lips for a few moments, so I can use both hands.

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

Thank You for the thorough review.

I bought one year ago E01, but personally was disappointed to the relatively cheap look (lens missing perhaps the main reason for that), and the tint also leaves something to hope for (okay, a pretty subjective issue...).

I then bought the E05, and it is EDC for me currently (in my keyring). LD01 seems pretty nice.

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

Originally Posted by edpmis02

I won that same package in a drawing! It seems more like buy an LD01 and get an E01 for free.. like it they are clearing out the extra purple E01s. I got an SS LD01 on my keychain, LD01 around my neck, wife has an LD01 in purse, and the E01 is next to my bed, so I do not have to always "double twist" the LD01 to get the low mode when I get up during the night.

*

The AAA size is easy to hold in my lips for a few moments, so I can use both hands.

Buy another LDO1 for the bathroom and you are well sorted and pop another in the kitchen when you need a drink in the middle of the night.

Originally Posted by merbau

Thank You for the thorough review.

I bought one year ago E01, but personally was disappointed to the relatively cheap look (lens missing perhaps the main reason for that), and the tint also leaves something to hope for (okay, a pretty subjective issue...).

I then bought the E05, and it is EDC for me currently (in my keyring). LD01 seems pretty nice.

The lens is not missing,it does not have one.The EO1 is bomb proof and crude bit like an old AK47 but always works.

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

I bought this set from Manafont just before Christmas at a very good price. I really like both lights, and use the LD01 regularly for EDC, good output for a small light and I don't notice it in my pocket. The E01 is on my keyring with an energiser lithium.

I only wish the E01 wasn't purple colour - it looks almost pink to me! Might get an olive green one sometime, although the gold one looks nice too...

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

Originally Posted by davecroft

I bought this set from Manafont just before Christmas at a very good price. I really like both lights, and use the LD01 regularly for EDC, good output for a small light and I don't notice it in my pocket. The E01 is on my keyring with an energiser lithium.

I only wish the E01 wasn't purple colour - it looks almost pink to me! Might get an olive green one sometime, although the gold one looks nice too...

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

Hey subwoofer,
Great review. I was wondering if you could tell me how solid the LD01 feels compared to the E01?
I have the E01 and drove over it in gravel with my truck about 30 times, and nobody believes me when I show it to them.
Do you see the lens as a weak point in the LD01? Or is it gtg? As long as I keep my truck off of it that is...
Thanks

and davecroft
I would call the olive green E01 more of a "silver"
I ordered my uncle one and it matched his SS pocket knife almost exactly.

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

Originally Posted by Tsanc

Hey subwoofer,
Great review. I was wondering if you could tell me how solid the LD01 feels compared to the E01?
I have the E01 and drove over it in gravel with my truck about 30 times, and nobody believes me when I show it to them.
Do you see the lens as a weak point in the LD01? Or is it gtg? As long as I keep my truck off of it that is...
Thanks

The E01 is really built like a nuclear bomb shelter. You could probably drop this from a mile up and after making a big hole in whatever it lands on still turn on and work.

The LD01 is well made and is going to be pretty tough. It is also a far superior as far as light output and beam quality goes. Without torture testing the LD01 I can't really comment on how much abuse the lens can take, but compared to any other glass lensed light, no, I don't see it as a weak point.

The LD01 is an excellent light and if you need bomb proof then keep your E01 as backup.

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

Re: Review of the Fenix EDC Flashlight Pack ( LD01 and E01 )

i just received 2 ldo1`s in stainless steel from a forum member and i gotta say they are sweet!! the stainless version is killer .bought a pair, one for me and one for the wife .so nice even she liked it and shes not into lights like i am . i think she liked the fact i thought of her when i bought them both .but she did approve .

and after looking at the beam shots above i am glad i bought the fenix over the itp`s .